Quantum MagnetsYet another potential type of quantum computer: "The scientists cooled a sample of Cr8 to only a few degrees Kelvin -- colder than minus 450 degrees F -- to lower the energy levels of electrons in the atoms as much as possible. Then they bombarded the material with neutrons to energize the electrons just enough for them to display Néel excitation."Article here.
- posted by Jonathan @ 12:06 PM0 comments

Friday, December 19, 2003

December Virtual Journal of Quantum Information out Featuring five algorithm articles, including: "Lower bounds on the complexity of simulating quantum gates" and "Quantum-circuit model of Hamiltonian search algorithms." See it here.
- posted by Jonathan @ 8:50 AM0 comments

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Frozen photons"Mikhail Lukin and colleagues at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts managed to stop light [...] by firing a short burst of red laser light into a gas of hot rubidium atoms." A possible method for qubit registers? The New Scientist article is here. An older related article is here.
- posted by Jonathan @ 10:18 AM0 comments

The potential quantum computing method most often considered part of nano-tecnhnology is quantum dots. So perhaps, with part of $4 billion behind it, quantum dot quantum computing will mature faster than the other quantum computing technologies. And maybe to get a piece of the $4 billion pie, quantum algorithm researchers should rename their work nano-technology algorithms. Nanorithms? Just a thought.
- posted by Jonathan @ 11:49 AM0 comments

Quantum Computing: Prospects and Pitfalls ReportFrom TRN mag: "[This] report lays out the technologies researchers are using to make the basic building blocks of quantum computers -- qubits -- and to connect qubits into quantum computer architectures....Scientists are also at work on software algorithms aimed to enable quantum architectures to solve certain types of problems many orders of magnitude faster than the fastest classical computers. " The bad news...this 6,412 word report costs $450. See the summary here.
- posted by Jonathan @ 11:41 AM0 comments

Ed Hinds on quantum computingThe popular press has been going deeper than usual into the specifics of quantum computing. Here is the transcript from an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) interview of Ed Hinds, Professor of Physics at Imperial College in London. (After the Ed Hinds interview is another interesting story about the book "Prime Obsession"). This ZDnet article provides a better than usual introduction to quantum computing for the non-scientist.
- posted by Jonathan @ 6:13 PM0 comments